About PETA

Our Company, Our Story

Cecile Guidote-Alvarez founded the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) on April 7, 1967 with the vision of a Philippine Theater engaged in the development of people and society.

In 1971, PETA became the UNESCO-ITI (International Theater Institute) Center in the Philippines, and in the same year it organized the first Third World Theater Festival, held in the 400th year of the foundation of the City of Manila.

When its founder was forced to go on political exile because of Martial Law in 1972, PETA’s new breed of artist-teacher-leaders continued to steer the company towards a People’s Theater committed to social change.

The social conditions and political climate during the Martial Law sharpened the people-based theater aesthetics of PETA. It inspired the company to use the power of theater as a means of producing plays for empowerment and development, especially of the most disadvantaged sectors of society/those in the margins.

PETA began by asserting the then radical view of creating and performing plays in Filipino. Most of PETA’s plays were staged at the historic Dulaang Rajah Sulayman, an open-air theater designed by National Artist Leandro V. Locsin. By the 90’s, it boasted of a solid record of some 300 plays written, translated, adapted, published and performed, which shaped the company’s theater history, enriching it through theater forms and techniques that expressed local, national and universal themes. Among PETA’s earlier plays have been: Bayaning Huwad, Larawan, May-i, May-i, Hanggang Dito na Lamang at Maraming Salamat, Juan Tamban, Pilipinas Circa 1907, Ang Buhay ni Galileo, Macbeth, Canuplin, Macliing, Minsa’y Isang Gamu-Gamo, Ang Paglalakbay ni Radya Mangandiri, 1896.

In 2005 PETA fulfilled one of long-term goals when it moved to a permanent home, The PETA Theater Center. A landmark in Philippine Arts and Culture, the center in itself is a testament to the creativity, ingenuity, resilience of PETA. The center now serves as a physical base for the entire gamut of PETA undertakings, from professional theater repertory performances, year round workshops and its community and outreach programs.

Settled in its new home, PETA continued to mount out-of-the box, cutting-edge productions that mainstreamed relevant issues that engaged its urban audiences. PETA’s modern repertoire ranged from fresh adaptations of world classics like Haring Lear, Arbol de Fuego (Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard), to staging iconic children’s theater productions like Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang, and Batang Rizal. Most recently, the company has also explored the use of modern pop music to maintain the connection with its evolving audience. Its contemporary musicals include Skin Deep, William, Care Divas and its phenomenal musical hit Rak of Aegis.

Relentless in seeking out new audiences, it vigorously partnered with schools, parishes and communities all over the country to ensure that it is able to share its rich educational performances to as many Filipinos as possible. The company embarked on many exhilarating tours. Its mobile plays included Tumawag kay Libby Manaoag, Si Juan Tamad and Diyablo at ang Limang Milyong Boto, Hans Christian Andersen Must Be a Filipino, Noli at Fili Dekada dos Mil, Rated:PG, ASL...Please! and Padayon.

Through its inspired leadership and the contribution of its dedicated members and staff, PETA mastered its triple bottom lines of artistic excellence, relevance and viability while remaining true to its vision of using theater as a tool for education, social change and development.

Vision and Commitment

The signal PETA achievement is its struggle and survival through the martial law years --in the creative poverty of hardly any funding, in the creative presentation of that which was not allowed free expression. Creative solutions were found in the theater of indirection using history, folklore, fable, symbolism and expressionism to say what had to be --- and definitely was powerfully expressed.

PETA’s work is certainly far from complete. The company has laid down the foundations on which future generations can build. What it offered is a spirit that is unafraid to take risks, perhaps even to make mistakes, but certainly a spirit that is bold, daring, innovative, and generous.

To this end, PETA is committed to pursue its theater/cultural work in the following areas:

Theater for Artistic Development (TAD) – working for greater artistic excellence to be able to move and enlighten people through our plays; to be the best of what we could ever be – artists, writers, directors, actors, singers, dancers, choreographers, composers, designers, and cultural managers – full of passion to draw from the tradition and culture of excellence of our own people, while continuously experimenting on contemporary forms, thus helping create in a spiraling manner the evolving tapestry of a people’s creativity and cultural fecundity;

Theater in Education (TIE) – working to help teachers become more creative and inspiring in the classroom; to enhance the quality of education, especially in our public schools, through the arts and the theater; to work with the youth to help produce a new generation of Filipinos endowed with a limitless sense of imagination, pride of place, love for country, and a sensitivity to care for fellow Filipinos and fellow humans; to generate a grounded, rooted, comprehensive theater arts programs in schools that is Filipino in perspective and universalist in dimension; and

Theater for Development (TFD) – pursuing a genuine people’s development agenda, especially for those in the margins of society, to build the creative capacities of people who are excluded by virtue of poverty, race, ethnicity, religion, etc., so that they may be able to assert their rights and participate in matters that determine their lives and their future; to create, in solidarity with our people, a quality of life for all sectors in constant struggle with all forms of deprivation and oppression, showing the path of creativity for reaching holistic and sustainable development.

PETA remains inspired by the ideals of nationhood, global understanding, respect of person, democratization and greater participation of the people in theater, culture and social development. PETA remains committed to the same ideals that it was built upon.

Join PETA and its members in further pursuing a vision of our people and society whose life will be enriched and empowered with each gesture, word, image, sound, expression, and creative learning experience. This is PETA’s continuing way to serve communities… through our theater work, on, off and beyond the stage.

Organizational Profile

PETA is non-stock, non-profit, non-governmental organization; a registered donee institution based in the Republic of the Philippines. It is an association of artist-teachers who are committed to use theater for the cause of social change and justice.

Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) Plaque of Acknowledgement 1998 Philippine International Theater Festival and Conference, in celebration of the Centennial of the Declaration of Philippine Independence, Culture Center of the Philippines, November 26 to December 6, 1998.

Philippine High School for the Arts and the 1999 National Children’s Arts Festival Committee. Certificate of Participation. PETA – Metropolitan Teen Theaer League. 1999 National Children’s Arts Festival. National Arts Center, Manila, 21-24 of October 1999.

Citation Philippine Educational Theater Association. Sining Kamboyaka Ensemble of the Mindanao State University and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Mindawan Art and Culture, April 5, 2004.

Plaque of Appreciation. Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) for being participated and contributed to the success of the Children and Youth Theater Festival Against Children Trafficking. ECPAT Philippines. De La Salle – College of St. Benilde, Manila, December 16, 2004.

Certificate of Appreciation, Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). Children’s Festival and celebration of the 17th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the first ever Universal Children’s Day in Ormoc City. Central Plaza, Ormoc City, November 20, 2006.

The Federation of Catholic Schools Alumni/ae Associations (FeCaSaa) in partnership with the Good Citizenship Movement (GCM). Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) – the Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Award for Social Artistry. University of the Philippines – National College of Public Administration and Governance, Quezon City, August 18, 2007.

“D Wonder Twins of Boac”- Outstanding Original Libretto, Outstanding Original Musical Composition, Outstanding Choreography for a Play, Outstanding Sound Design, Outstanding Set Design, Female Lead and Featured Performance in a Musical, Outstanding Stage Direction for a Play, Outstanding Ensemble Performance for a Musical, and Outstanding Original Musical – Gawad Buhay, 2013.